Hiking in.

[Marco]

The " a bit of humor" post made me think. That could never be me in that chair. Unless I wanted to carry that chair about two miles over hills, dales and deadfalls there would just be NO WAY. To avoid fishing crowds and to frankly catch bigger and more fish, I usually like to hike into areas where the accessibility for the "average" angler could be called difficult. Many a time after huffin and puffin I did question my reasoning but after a great day of fishin, all the pain is forgotten. I have also, on occasion, run into critters of a larger persuasion like bears and moose(s) but thankfully no confrontations took place. I do carry spray or a firearm ( where permitted) just in case.
How far from the crowd do y'all veer to fish. The common perception is that most fishermen fish within 250 yards of their cars . Of course I understand the limitations due to physical handicaps but other than those obvious exceptions, do you escape the crowds or do you help create them?

Mark

[Mike Thomas]

Marco, hello I would say I normaly walk upstream from the car and will often end up with a couple of hours walk to get back to the car at the end of the days fishing. However there are rarely crowds on the rivers in N.Z. (tongariro and one or two other rivers excepted).

[OldBaldGuy]

[Marco: "...The common perception is that most fishermen fish within 250 yards of their cars..."]

Marco, in my experience, 250 yards may be a generous estimate. You can drive to most of the small impoundments around eastern Nebraska, but one in particular with an especially nice population of bass and bluegills is located 3/8th of a mile and over a hill from the parking lot. Despite being one of the better little lakes in the Omaha-Lincoln area, I've never seen more than 5 fishermen there, and that includes Memorial Day morning. My theory is that 99% of fishermen stay within the range that they can comfortably carry a cooler of ice and beer. Of the remaining 1%, half are fly fishermen.

[Joe Valencic]

There's lots of chatter in NE Ohio about overcrowding on our rivers here in Steelhead Alley. Much of this is just as you say, most folks fish close to the point where their vehicle is parked, and they squack the loudest. For the past five years I have made it a point to walk 20-30 minutes from my truck, and I have the stream to myself 95% of the time.

Joe

[Marco]

I see that I should have specified fly fishermen and on moving waters as opposed to lakes. In all cases, however, fishing from shore or bank ( walking).
OBG, I'll have to add your input to my spreadsheet
Mike, oh to be in New Zealand!

Mark

[clyde holmes]

Marco, Photojoe and myself like to get away from ceowds. We like to explore and bush wack to out of the way places. Weve been to a few that we shulda had our heads examined In order too avoid crowds ya gotta bush wack

[malevo]

I'd like to be able to walk 30 min and start fishing where no one else is there. But here in IA, most of the streams are fairly shorts. 2-3 miles of trout waters is a good guess. There are some few streams that are far from roads or parking lot, those ones are the exception. But generaly 3 to 4 anglers per creek and there is no free place to fish for an extra angler.
When I get the chance to go out of IA to fish, I try to chose places where I can hicke a bit and get some solitude. Last summer I was hicking about 10 miles, go and back through a canyon with a wonderful creek. I had only 1h to fish it, but I managed a dozen of brookies, the biggest was just 10' but, what a beatiful place and wonderful fishing!
Martin

[Lotech]

Marco,
That picture of me in the chair was taken on a lark. It was at the Idaho Fish-In of 2003. Everything was posed and staged. I wasn't really fishing. However, if I would have hook one I would have treated it right. The location of the picture was right in front of the cabins at the Three Rivers Resort. I do however fall into one of your categories. I very seldom fish more than 250 yards from my car. At my age, my knees are giving out on me. Actually I think my fly fishing days are limited. I wish I could hike in to fish like I did 30 years ago, but that is out of the question. I take no offense at your post, and actually agree with most of your point of view. I just wanted to let you know that the picture was a gag. My response to your post is with smiley faces, I'm really not upset.
Blessings,

[J Castwell]

No question about it. The older I get, the closer to the car I fish. Not by choice either.

[Kai]

I'd rather hike than share the water with another fisherman. I'll hike however long it takes to get far out of sight from other people. Sometimes I don't have to hike at all and can fish near my car all alone. Sometimes I'll hike for an hour or more to get away from the crowds. Luckily, where I live and fish, I can pretty much always find solitude if I hike a bit.

This is the main reason I've never liked felt soled wading boots. Felt may be great for wading, but I much prefer studded rubber for hiking and bushwhacking (which I do a lot of.)